The Atlanta Hawks have been without Tiago Splitter intermittently throughout the 2015-2016 season as a result of a nagging hip injury. Now, it appears as if that ailment will cost the 31-year-old center the remainder of the campaign.

    Hawks' Tiago Splitter has elected to have season-ending surgery on his right hip.
    — Chris Vivlamore (@CVivlamoreAJC) February 16, 2016

http://www.peachtreehoops.com/2016/2/16/11024762/tiago-splitter-injury-atlanta-hawks-hip-surgery

If the Hawks trade away Horford, the quality of their frontline will be completely depleted unless they get a solid big in return.

Which leads me to question - what made Atlanta wait so long to make Horford and Teague available?  It's obvious - both on paper and from last year's Eastern Conference Finals - that the Hawks absolutely cannot beat the Cavs in a 7 game series.  I didn't follow them during the offseason, but I would have to imagine that they were actively shopping Horford and Teague, since it makes little since to decide to do this mid-season after compiling a winning record.  They own both of their picks this year.  They can still make it to the early teens with their 1st rounder, but they would have had a better pick if they dealt Horford/Teague earlier.  Maybe they're banking on swapping star players with another team?  Howard maybe?